Fun with Palindromes at the Movies Quiz

Answer: Radar

In "Battle of Britain" (1969), radar played a large role, just as it did in the real events of 1940 portrayed in the film. An early scene showed an attack by Luftwaffe aircraft on a radar installation, and later the plotting tables which used the information gleaned using radar were shown. The all-star cast included Michael Caine, Laurence Olivier, Susannah York and Christopher Plummer.

In "MASH" (1970), Radar was the nickname of the company clerk of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in Korea. Corporal Walter "Radar" O'Reilly (Gary Burghoff) had an uncanny ability to know when helicopters would be arriving with wounded, or what his commanding officer wanted him to do before being asked.

(Note: Despite the helicopters in the latter movie, "rotor" doesn't fit with the aircraft of the former.)

Answer: Madam

The title establishment of each of these movies was presided over by a madam, who was in charge of the "girls" who worked there.

In "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" (1982), Burt Reynolds played a sheriff who wanted to keep the historical brothel run by his friend Miss Mona (Dolly Parton) from being shut down. In "The Cheyenne Social Club" (1970), a cowboy (James Stewart) was surprised to learn that the business he inherited from his brother was a brothel, run by a woman named Jenny (Shirley Jones). Henry Fonda also appeared as Stewart's friend.

Answer: Eye

One of the most disturbing scenes of Bunuel's "Un Chien Andalou" (1929) involved the slicing open of someone's eye in all too vivid close up. While the plot (if there was one) was not easy to follow, images such as this made the short surrealistic film unforgettable once seen. Bunuel and his writing partner, the Spanish surrealist artist Salvador Dali, made certain of that.

The main characters were portrayed by Simone Mareuil and Pierre Batcheff, and both Bunuel and Dali had uncredited appearances.

Answer: Pip

Philip Pirrip, known as Pip, was the main character of Charles Dickens's novel "Great Expectations", and was played on screen many times, notably by John Mills in 1946. Pip was an orphan whose lot in life dramatically improved with the help of an anonymous benefactor, but who retained his good nature despite many trials. David Lean directed this version, which won Oscars for black and white Cinematography and Set Decoration.

Answer: Tot

A tot, or small child, was the focus of both movies listed. In "Look Who's Talking" (1989), Bruce Willis provided the voice of Mikey, acting as narrator while the youngster was attempting to find the best mate for his single mother (Kirstie Alley). John Travolta also starred.

"Bobbikins" (1959) starred Shirley Jones and British comedian Max Bygraves as the parents of precocious tot Bobbikins, who was able to speak like an adult, though still technically an infant. The problem was that the kid would only talk to his Dad, so nobody believed him. The baby's voice was provided by Janina Faye.

Answer: Nurses run

Though possibly the nurses did not run a lot in either of these movies, there were enough lecherous male characters in both to cause the nurses to want to run away, as fast as possible!

The head nurse in "MASH", Major Margaret Houlihan (Sally Kellerman) did a bit of running when Hawkeye (Donald Sutherland) and Trapper (Elliott Gould) pulled a prank on her in the shower and the nurse played by Barbara Windsor in "Carry On Doctor" (1967) surely wanted to run away from both doctors and patients on some occasions.

(Note: Neither "radar" nor "rotor" will work here, as each relates only to "MASH".)

Answer: Rotor

The Vietnam War movie, "Platoon" (1986) had a scene during which the thwap-thwap-thwap of a helicopter's rotors provided the background for the loading of wounded men into the aircraft. As they flew away one of them spotted the character played by Willem Dafoe still on the ground and being chased by the enemy, culminating in the famous scene of him raising his arms skyward for the help that didn't come. "Platoon" won four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director (Oliver Stone).

"Blue Thunder" (1983) was about a police helicopter of that name, flown by police officer Frank Murphy (Roy Scheider) who began to suspect that the helicopter might be more dangerous than he had been led to believe. The film was Oscar-nominated for Film Editing.

Answer: Race car

"Rush" (2013) was director Ron Howard's homage to Formula 1 racing, and told the more or less true tale of the presumed rivalry between drivers James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and Niki Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) during the 1970s, including Lauda's near-fatal prang at the Nurburgring in 1976.

"Days of Thunder" (1990) was a fictional story about an arrogant young stock car driver played by Tom Cruise, and also starred Nicole Kidman and Robert Duvall.

Answer: Nun

In "The Sound of Music" (1965), Maria (Julie Andrews) was a young woman "who will never be a nun" once she had met and fallen in love with Captain von Trapp (Christopher Plummer). The friendly nuns at the abbey played a big part in the survival of the family at the end of the movie. Playing some of these nuns were Peggy Wood, Marni Nixon and Portia Nelson.

"Black Narcissus" (1947) was based on the novel by Rumer Godden, and set in a convent in the Himalayas, where five nuns of varying dispositions struggled with their circumstances. Deborah Kerr and David Farrar were the stars.

Answer: Anna

The 1956 movie "The King and I" was the musical version of "Anna and the King of Siam", and both were a loose adaptation of the true story of Anna Leonowens who spent time in the court of the Siamese king as teacher to his many children. In the musical, Deborah Kerr played Anna and Yul Brynner was the King, in his Oscar-winning role. Songs by Rodgers and Hammerstein included "Shall We Dance" and "Getting to Know You".